Short shrift for disabled vets

Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Case

Veterans seeking to contest the denial by the Department of Veterans Affairs of their claims to a service-connected disability face a difficult procedural hurdle created by the VA and endorsed by the federal courts that was clearly not intended by Congress when it established the disability claim review process. This week the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a blow to those veterans when it decided not to consider the issue, even though the court acknowledged the harm it creates.

In the case the court refused to hear, a veteran named Freddie H. Mathis complained that a rule adopted by the Board of Veterans’ Appeals and upheld by the Veterans’ Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, denied him the opportunity to challenge the competence of a doctor who had denied his disability claim. Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Case

Latest News for Vets

Print Edition/May June

Beginning the day after this Fourth of July, veterans with other-than-honorable (OTH) administrative discharges from military service — or what’s often called “bad paper” — can soon receive emergency mental health care